


The World is Cruel but You're Still Here

by bexara



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Dark, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mention of past Erwin/Levi, Not AU, Romance, Shameless Smut, Slight Bondage, Spoilers, Spoilers to current manga chapters, Violent Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 16:42:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1109137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexara/pseuds/bexara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren who was wild and impetuous, filled with fire and rage, bursting with faith and valor, who held a monster inside him yet somehow managed to be the most human of them all. For better or worse, the kid had caught his attention, had demanded his attention, and whatever emotion Levi's crippled heart was still capable of feeling, Eren had roused it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't shipped Eren/Levi Levi/Eren before (or anyone fron SnK) but many of my precious sweethearts on tumblr do. They are under attack right now so this is for them. I have added the 2nd part because so many people requested it.
> 
> References to canon violence. Explicit sex in the 2nd part.
> 
> Also, I tagged it underage even if I don't necessarily agree with that designation. I have been reading bodice rippers (aka historical romances) since I was about 12. In a big chunk of those by bestselling authors, the chick is 16 or 17 and the man is in his 30's.

 

He was forced to become a man before he’d ever really had the chance to be a boy. 

Well, they all had. In the hell that was life after the Fall. No, even before then, from the first moment the titans appeared, no child had been able to actually  _be_  a child, not really. How could they, when before they could crawl, before they could speak, there was the wall, looming over them, reflecting in their parents’ eyes, shadowing their very existence.

Safe but not free, never free, that’s what that wall whispered to them as every boy and girl toddled off to their trundle beds. Where is the innocence of childhood when you are born and raised with the knowledge that death with it’s grinning, gaping maw is just a stone structure away, scrabbling and tearing it’s own flesh just to get to you, to devour you?

And then the wall fell, and the illusion of safety, of any remaining innocence, disappeared in a rain of blood and flesh and death. So much death the very air trembled with it, stank with it.

So yeah, when Eren stood there, taller than him, still bleeding, still bandaged from their last foray outside the wall, and in an adult's voice said, “Corporal, I am in love with you,” Levi knew it was a man speaking, not a boy.

Hell, his own parent’s had married at fifteen, even younger than Eren. It was common enough in their fractured, broken world. When you lived with the understanding each and every day could be your last on this earth, that life took on a frenzied, urgent quality that made you want to cram as much joy, as much happiness, as much living as possible into each and every day.

“I…”

Rarely was he at a loss for words, unable to act, to think, to formulate a plan, but Levi was blindsided by Eren’s confession, there in front of the rest of their squad, in front of the Commander, in front of that childhood friend of his that glared daggers before Eren even finished talking.

“You’re confusing admiration with love,” Levi finally responded, putting down his tea cup and pushing away from the long table where they had all been sitting and eating in silence, mourning their losses, celebrating their own continued existence.

Eren grabbed his arm before he could completely turn away, and there was such strength, such determination, such conviction in the fingers on him that he allowed himself to be restrained, just this one time.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m some stupid kid.”

“You are a stupid kid,” Levi turned back around to face blazing, gray-green eyes that had seen so much pain, so many lives destroyed, so much horror that men twice Eren’s age had crumbled under the weight of it, and yet those eyes still hoped, still dreamed, still loved, still believed victory was possible.

It broke Levi, those eyes.

And it saved him, too.

He looked pointedly down at his arm. Eren blushed and hastily released him.

“I’m sorry.”

“If you are going to apologize, then you shouldn’t do it in the first place, annoying brat.”

Eren’s flush of embarrassment became one of anger. “I’m not a brat!”

“Aren’t you?” Levi flicked his eyes to their companions who weren’t even pretending not to be interested in the spectacle before them. “Only a brat cries and screams for attention without caring about the time or place.”

Biting his lip, Eren glanced over at his friends and comrades. His shoulders hunched for a moment, but then he straightened and mulishly lifted his chin.

“Think what you want, then, but I’m serious.”

His tone was clear, unwavering, just like his gaze.

Levi sighed heavily and shook his head, but before anyone could guess his intent, he reached out and dragged Eren close, so close their breath mingled.

“Then show me your seriousness,  _Eren_.” He deliberately emphasized the other’s name, then shoved hard, so hard Eren stumbled back and fell flat on his ass. “I’ll be waiting.”

Without another word, he pivoted and walked away. Levi’s lips curved and there was a gleam in his eyes, but Eren didn’t see it. Rather, Levi wouldn’t allow him to see it. Not yet. The brat hadn’t earned the right, but when he did, Levi would be, as he had promised, waiting.

TBC maybe


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >  
>> 
>> _It probably wasn’t wise to get involved, not when he was Eren’s superior, not when every time he ordered the younger man to fight he just might be signing Eren’s death warrant. But, both their graves had already been dug long ago and were just waiting for bodies, or what was left of their bodies, to fill them. When you put it into perspective, stealing a little warmth, a little happiness, a little burst of pleasure was a small reward for their service to mankind._
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> _And if anyone begrudged him those moments, well they could go f*** themselves on his blade._  
> 

“There were casualties during the scouting mission, Corporal.”

Levi paused mid-sip. His heavy-lidded gaze lifted over the edge of his tea cup and focused on the sweating, wild-eyed recruit that stood there literally trembling in his boots. Shit, they got greener every day, these children masquerading as soldiers.

Ah, that’s right. Not children. There were no children there, behind the wall, under the titan’s rule. He’d already come to that realization a month ago when Eren had once more laid life and limb on the line for his squad, for his Corporal, and then had laid his heart bare to those very same people.

There were no children on the front lines, but there were those who didn’t belong there. The callow, the soft, the weak. Only the strong survived their blood-stained existence, but even then being strong was no guarantee for survival. Just ask Erd or Auruo or Petra.

“How many?” His honeyed voice, which matched his looks but not his personality, was calm, almost disinterested.

The farm-fresh, freckled young man before him swallowed hard. “F-forty-eight, sir.”

“I see.”

He set aside his tea and looked out the window beside him. The yard was filled with familiar brown and tan uniforms, some of the corps milling around, chatting. Others chopping wood or tacking the horses or just staring off into the distance as if they could see death on their peripheral and had about as much chance of stopping it as of stopping the sun from rising in the sky.

Silver eyes watched the scene for a few more minutes before closing. The chair beneath him screeched across the wooden floor as he stood up.

“Make sure Erwin gets a copy of that report,” Levi passed by the recruit and out of the room.

Once he was gone, another soldier who had been observing shook his head, disgust stamped across his features. “Rivaille may be humanity’s strongest or some shit, but he’s a damn cold bastard, to sit there and not even show a hint of emotion. People _died_. People he sent to their deaths. Who’s the real monster here?”

“Is that what you think?” Hanji murmured, having also witnessed everything. The light glared off her glasses, obscuring her eyes from view. “Rather than saying the Corporal is cold I would say he feels things a hundred times more deeply than the average person. Wouldn’t you, Eren?”

All gazes turned toward the young man who’d been sitting silently in the corner. His face was a mask of anger and loathing, his glittering green eyes fixed on the soldier who had insulted their leader.

Hanji was the only one close enough to see the hands fisted on his knees, the blood welling up between his clenched fingers. She had a moment to think _Crap, this could be bad_ , before Eren shot across the table and slammed into the unsuspecting man.

“Would you like to see a real monster?” He spat into the man’s face, his voice sounding like it had come from the bowels of hell itself.

Everyone knew what Eren was, what he was capable of, and with his teeth, still human but no less deadly, just inches away from the man’s jugular, the soldier paled and the hot stench of urine filled the air.

“Eren!”

It wasn’t an exceptionally loud shout, but Eren reacted instantly, like a puppet whose strings, no whose _chains_ had been yanked back.

He dropped the soldier. The man’s face was covered in snot and tears and without Eren’s hands holding him up he crumbled to the floor.

Eren turned to face Levi, to explain or maybe apologize, but he only had a glimpse of steel-colored eyes and then he crashed to the floor beside the man he had traumatized, sent there by a hard, ringing kick to his head.

Levi didn’t need a harness and wire to fly, that’s what most of those who watched him thought as he jumped, spun, and sailed through the air at Eren.

“Are you finally ready to be put down like a wild animal?” Levi squatted and grabbed Eren by the hair, jerking his head back.

“N-no, sir!” Eren panted, avoiding his Corporal’s gaze.

“Then quit acting like one.” The older man tightened his grip, then released Eren’s hair with a violence that snapped his neck forward. “Get up.”

Straightening, he glanced over at Hanji. “I’m taking this,” Levi kicked Eren in the foot, “out for a bit. Make sure _that_ cleans up his mess.” His head nodded toward the soldier cowering in his own piss. “And if he can’t get it up with soap and water, make him use his tongue. That’s what a monster would say, right?”

It was clear Levi had overheard the conversation that had sent Eren into a rage. Hanji schooled her expression into one of mild obeisance.

“Of course, sir.”

Eren stood up next to Levi, holding his head with one hand. He was three inches taller than the Corporal, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind exactly who was in charge. Without saying anything else, without looking back to make sure Eren followed, Levi pivoted on his heel. The clacking sound of his booted feet echoed in the otherwise silent house. Averting his gaze, Eren went after the other man, his own steps shuffling and uncertain.

Levi didn’t speak again, just led Eren out the back door and toward the small storehouse where they kept supplies and dry goods. There were probably better places, but at this time of day it was the only area where he could avoid prying eyes.

“Get in.”

He held the door open, watching Eren hesitate and nervously glance around.

 _Much too late for that, brat._ In truth, he’d been waiting for something to happen, a catalyst to force his hand. In the long month since Eren’s confession, he’d thought long and hard about just what it was he felt for the kid. There was something there. Lust definitely. Affection possibly. Admiration for the guy’s guts and determination, hell yeah.

It probably wasn’t wise to get involved, not when he was Eren’s superior, not when every time he ordered the younger man to fight he just might be signing Eren’s death warrant. But, both their graves had already been dug long ago and were just waiting for bodies, or what was left of their bodies, to fill them. When you put it into perspective, stealing a little warmth, a little happiness, a little burst of pleasure was a small reward for their service to mankind.

And if anyone begrudged him those moments, well they could go fuck themselves on his blade.

“Do you think I’m going to punish you again?”

Startled, Eren’s gaze flew to Levi’s face. “Ah, uh yeah, probably.”

“Then you’re smarter than I give you credit for.” Levi crossed his ankles, leaning back against the wooden door and staring up at Eren through hooded eyes. “I guess the more important question would be, do you think you deserve punishment?”

The younger man looked down, at his hands still sluggishly seeping from the crescents his nails had dug into them. “I … maybe. It’s just, that guy didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about,  insulting you and--”

“Oi, stop right there.” Levi uncoiled his body from the door. “Do I look like I need your protection? If that’s what you meant last month by showing me your seriousness then you might as well wash your ass and go play house with that little girlfriend of yours.”

“No!” Eren yelled, his previous nervousness now replaced by panic.“I know you don’t need protection.“ He touched his temple where proof of Levi’s strength was already swelling and turning purple. “But it’s obvious I’m not gonna sit there and let someone talk shit about the person I love.”

“And that’s why you’re a brat.”

“I’m not a brat, dammit!”

Quick as a blade strike, Levi hooked his foot behind Eren’s knee, seized a fistful of the other’s roughspun shirt, and twisted, throwing them both into the storeroom. The door banged shut behind them, plunging them into murky darkness.

He hit the ground first, Eren’s body crushing down on him, but almost immediately he reversed their positions, pulling Eren’s arms up over his head.The floor was made up of dirt and hay and their rolling around disturbed it, kicking debris and straw into the air. There were cracks in the walls, in the door, and the dust particles floated down the beams of light shining through the gaps.

One of the rays shone across Eren’s face, highlighting his wide, green eyes. They looked up, startled, questioning. Levi only had one answer.

“If you’re not a brat, then you’re an adult.” He angled his head down, still holding tight to Eren’s wrists. “Are you a adult… Eren?”

The inquiry was a low, hot whisper that burned across Eren’s lips, and he shivered.

“Y-yes, Corporal.”

“Adults do messy, sticky, _obscene_ things to each other.” Levi shifted so his mouth hovered over Eren’s ear while his knee slipped between hard, trembling thighs. “Are you prepared for that?”

Beneath his knee, he could feel Eren react to his touch, to his words, and his own body hardened.

“That uh yes.” Eren’s voice cracked as he answered. He closed his eyes, but Levi wasn’t going to allow that. He wanted to see those eyes that had ensnared him from the first moment he’d seen them burning with hatred and conviction from behind a row of iron bars.

“Look at me.” He put every ounce of authority he possessed into that command. Eren’s eyes flew open. “Good. Now, where was I. Ah, that’s right.” One hand released the younger man’s wrists to trail down the strong, muscled body beneath him. “I asked if you were prepared and you said yes. Even if I want to fuck you here?” Levi’s hand moved under Eren, found his ass, and squeezed.

Eren jerked in surprise, but nodded, keeping his eyes on Levi’s as ordered. “Y-yes. That’s, that’s how two men have sex, right? I lived in the trash and slums. No one cares where or what they do there. I’ve seen men have sex before.”

Those words, uttered so matter-of-factly, made Eren seem as old as Levi. After all, he’d lived in those same slums, seen the same filth.

“And if I want you to fuck me? Are you prepared for that, too?”

Levi could tell Eren wasn’t expecting that. His adam’s apple bobbed and his breath came faster. “If, if that’s what you want.”

“Yeah, I want it.” Levi sat up so he was straddling Eren’s waist. “But not today.”

With slow, deliberate movements, he unwound his cravat. “I could say it’s because I don’t trust your ability to control the titan within you yet, but why make excuses. I simply want to tie you up and fuck you. Because that’s the kind of bastard I am. Can you still say you’re prepared? Can you still say you love me?”

The answer to his question came in the form of Eren locking his hands together and lifting them up, almost like an offering. The sight of him so trusting, so accepting, hit Levi like a fist to the gut. It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to keep from falling on Eren like a ravening beast. That soldier had been right, he was a monster, but then so was Eren. Guess that made them perfect for each other.

With more care than he’d ever shown anything, he bound Eren’s wrists. The snowy cloth looked even whiter against the younger man’s tanned, golden skin. Levi suppressed a shudder.

It had been a long time, too long, since he had indulged a need for flesh that didn’t include ripping and tearing and slicing it, and Levi was afraid he wouldn’t be gentle, wasn’t even really sure if he knew what gentleness was, not with the life he’d led.

Somehow Eren, hotheaded, impulsive, several years his junior, blindingly beautiful Eren, understood.

“I won’t break.” He stretched his fettered arms above his head, opening his thighs wide. “Is this serious enough for you now, Corporal?”

_Fuck yes, it was._

Swooping down, Levi slanted his mouth over Eren’s. He could tell right away the other man had little to no experience in this area. The lips under his were clumsy, the tongue tangling with his too sloppy.

“This is how you do it, brat,” he pulled back long enough to murmur and then went back in, caging Eren’s face with his palms.   

He took his time, plunging inside, exploring Eren’s mouth, thrusting and retreating in an erotic imitation of things to come. Levi wondered if the other man understood.

“C-Corpoal,” Eren gasped into his mouth, hips jerking.

Levi could feel Eren, hard and erect and surprisingly thick, pressing against his ass. The feeling was interesting, arousing, but would have to wait until another time.

Leaving Eren’s mouth, he trailed hot, wet kisses along a smooth jaw, up to the pink shell of Eren’s ear, tracing it a few times with his tongue, feeling the younger man quiver, bit down hard, hard enough to make Eren moan and arch up off the floor. Levi couldn’t help grinding his hips down, rubbing his throbbing cock over the hard, flat stomach beneath him.

Because Eren’s hands were tied, Levi couldn’t remove his shirt, but he didn’t need to. Pushing it up and out of the way, he leaned forward until the soft silk of his hair brushed across Eren’s chest. One nipple he pinched between his thumb and forefinger, rolling and tugging. The other he trapped between his teeth, sucking and raking, relentlessly tormenting the tiny peak while Eren twisted restlessly under the assault.

He could feel something growing inside him, something huge and blazing, swelling as big as the arousal he ground against Eren’s belly. The need to rip off the rest of their clothes, to thrust into Eren, to rut and pound and fuck until the fire in him was finally, finally quenched was hard to resist.

So he didn’t.

Pants and boots and underclothes were removed. An old blanket that had been hanging on a nail was spread out. The conditions weren’t ideal, especially for a clean freak like himself, but there was no way Levi was dragging Eren back through that house, in front of the squad, under Hanji’s knowing, curious eyes. A little dirt was a small price to pay for the feast spread out before him.

On his back, with his arms pulled tight, his legs apart, face flushed, cock stiff and weeping, Eren was--

“Beautiful,” Eren mumbled, his eyes eating up every inch of Levi’s exposed skin. “You’re beautiful.”

Levi couldn’t help the smirk that curved his lips as Eren beat him to the punch.

“Stupid kid.”

Eren opened his mouth, probably to protest the insult, but Levi reached out, brushing a thumb over the head of his erection, and he moaned instead, writhing and twisting against his hands against the cloth tying them together, green eyes dazed with passion. Levi had to grasp the base of his own cock to keep from cumming right then.

When he got himself under control, he fumbled for the oil he had found on a nearby shelf. Slicking his fingers with it, he knelt between Eren’s legs, slid his hand deep, finding that hidden opening. A whimper escaped Eren’s mouth as Levi eased one finger in, all the way to the knuckle.

Soothing, nonsensical noises passed Levi’s own lips as he rotated his finger, using his other hand to stroke and rub Eren’s dick. Once he relaxed, Levi added another finger, and then another. Pretty soon, Eren was thrusting up into his hand, pushing back on his fingers, moaning and pleading for something he didn’t understand. But he would, soon, right then as a matter of fact.

Pulling his fingers out, Levi reached under, grasping the back of Eren’s knees, tilting the other man up, angling that warm, waiting ass up for his cock. Almost shaking with need, he draped Eren’s legs over his shoulders and fitted his cock against that small, lubed entrance. One push and he was working his way into snug, incredibly hot flesh.

Nothing had ever felt this good, and he groaned harshly, the sound echoed by Eren’s sharp, gasping cry.

“Sorry.” Levi gritted his teeth, amazed he could even speak at all.

“No, it’s, it’s fine,” Eren panted, bending his back so far off the floor only his shoulders touched. “I just ngh I just didn’t expect _ohhh_ …” He moved his lower body. Up. Down. Fucking himself on Levi’s cock, clamping down and squeezing until the Corporal could feel any remaining shred of sanity break into a thousand pieces. Of course the brat made love like he did everything else, fiercely, intensely, without a thought to the consequences.

Arching his butt, Levi forced his way deeper into that tight heat. Slow and easy was for tomorrow. Hips pistoning, he pounded hard and fast, shafting Eren with rough, almost violent thrusts that actually moved him up the blanket. Each stroke slammed Levi’s balls against Eren’s ass, the slapping sound accompanying their harsh, ragged breathing.

Everything else melted away. The report, that dumbass soldier, all of the pain and fear and death, it all temporarily ceased to exist, Eren’s scent and touch and heat blocking it all out.

The thighs on his shoulders started to jerk and spasm. Digging his fingers so deep into Eren’s hips it would leave bruises, he yanked that taller frame closer, hammering and thrusting until sweat rolled down his chest and onto Eren’s stomach.

They were both making noise now, grunting and moaning and swearing violently as the heat built and built and built. Levi groped between them, palming Eren’s cock again. That’s all it took. A high-pitched, keening sound poured out of the younger man’s throat and he jerked up so hard Levi’s knees left the blanket for a moment. Hot, creamy ropes of cum spilled over his hand and Eren’s inner muscles clenched hard.

One more hard, deep, frantic thrust and Levi was cumming, too, balls drawing up, pleasure racing down his spine and pulsing out of his dick, flooding Eren with his semen, marking his territory.

The heat drowned out everything for a while, and when he finally came down, Eren was lying limp and boneless beneath him.

Levi pulled out and they both winced as their too-sensitive flesh scraped against each other’s.

“Was, was that my punishment then, Corporal?” Eren rapsed, his green eyes still glowing, but softer now, the rage he usually wore like a badge buried under pleasure and satisfaction and, yes, love.

Were his own gray eyes reflecting the same emotion? The thought made him uncomfortable, though a part of him felt something else, something sweeter.

“Don’t be a smartass, brat. You’re punishment is what comes next.”

He sat back, grimacing at the sticky globs of cum sticking to his groin, legs and hand.

“What comes next?” Eren parrotted, gingerly sitting up, hands still bound.

A quick snap of his wrists and Levi took back his cravat, freeing the other man’s arms.

“Now you clean all this shit up, and then I want you to alphabetize the supplies, muck out the stables, and do the squad’s laundry.”

“But--”

“That’s an order, soldier,” Levi stood up, rummaging around for something to wipe off with. When he was clean enough to at least get back to the house and to a bath, he dressed quickly.

Eren just sat there, still flushed, still sweating, still covered in both of their fluids, looking completely wrecked and unfairly tantalizing. Levi had to force his feet toward the door instead of back into the younger man’s arms.

“If you don’t get your ass in gear, I’ll tell Hanji that the sample of titan semen she wanted is here and waiting for her.”

That had Eren scrambling up, grimacing either in pain or at the cum now leaking from his ass and dripping down his leg.

“And afterward, Corporal? After I have completed my duties, then what?”

Hand on the door handle, Levi gave Eren a heated once over. “Then you can come to my room tonight and we will see if you are as good at giving as you are at receiving.” He smirked and opened the door. “Though I don’t have high hopes.”

With Eren staring after him, half-erect from Levi’s promise, the Corporal left the storehouse, smiling. He’d stolen his bit of happiness from their hellish world, and if the fates found fault with that, then he had a piece of steel with their name written on it.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't stop writing for this fic now. I think I'm hooked on the pairing, so good job to the spammers for making me love it. Their plan totally back fired.
> 
> Thanks you for all the comments and kudos! They make me happy and fired up to write more.
>
>> If you are on tumblr, feel free to give me a shout, or send a prompt or request. I usually post my stuff there, first. You can find me here: [Bexara](http://bexara.tumblr.com/).

 

 

His first real orgasm came at the end of a hard, black boot pressing against his cock. To say he was one twisted son of a bitch was like saying rain was wet or blood was red, something so obvious it didn’t need to be vocalized at all.

Well, it took someone twisted, a little broken, maybe even slightly insane, to seek out death in all her grinning, monstrous glory without flinching and not just challenge the bitch but make her his mistress, flying forward with her guiding his blades even as those around him fell one by one, wings broken, strings cut, bodies torn and shattered and devoured.

So, okay, he was kind of fucked up, Levi had never pretended to be anything other than he was. That hero bullshit was just that, bullshit. It all boiled down to one simple fact: he lived to kill because he killed to live.

For all of that, he wasn’t completely numb, completely devoid of human warmth. The death of every man and woman who served under him was carved so deeply into his heart that there were times he felt crushed under the weight of those scars.

And then there was Eren.

Eren who was wild and impetuous, filled with fire and rage, bursting with faith and valor, who held a monster inside him yet somehow managed to be the most human of them all. For better or worse, the kid had caught his attention, had  _demanded_ his attention, and whatever emotion his crippled heart was still capable of feeling, Eren had roused it.

From that first time in the storehouse, when he’d had those glittering green eyes beneath him, when that golden body had writhed and gasped and moaned like the whole world was flying apart at the seams, Levi had been done for. Eren was a burning, soul-deep itch and no matter how many times or how many ways he scratched it, Levi just couldn’t get rid of it.

He was pretty sure by this point that he didn’t want to, either.

There was just one thing that made him hesitate. As their relationship deepened, evolved, reached new heights he hadn’t thought possible, Levi wondered if it would become too much for Eren too bear. His baggage, the things he wanted and craved, the darkness inside him, it was all enough to break a person.

Levi didn’t want to break Eren, wanted to be gentle, but the other part of him, the part that had slept with death since he’d been old enough pick up a blade, wanted to be cruel, too. The twin urges fought for dominance, and he wasn’t always strong enough to let gentleness win.

That Eren accepted him, twisted desires and all, was a mystery he could spend a lifetime trying to unravel. If only they were so lucky.

As if somehow sensing the direction of his thoughts, Mikasa rappelled down to the branch Levi squatted on.

“Corporal, Eren’s not with the squad today.”

His deep set gray eyes flickered. “It’s just a little reconnaissance, Ackerman. If we can’t handle a pissant job like this without Eren, then we should probably pack it in and join those cowards in the MP.”

She stared back at him with that way she had, that stillness only someone honed to be a predator could achieve. He’d mastered it before he’d ever hit puberty.

“True, but I haven’t seen him since yesterday. He disappeared after evening drills and never came to the bunks after lights out.”

The Coporal’s lips curled into a cross between a sneer and a smirk. “Last time I checked, you weren’t his mommy. I think he can tuck himself into bed somewhere without your help.”

“But I am his family …  _sir_.” The way she uttered the word was anything but respectful.

The limb under him creaked as he shifted to fully face her. She’d been there, they’d all been there, when Eren had confessed, and though everyone probably guessed at their current relationship no one had the guts to remark on it. It hadn’t escaped his notice that the girl held an almost sacred attachment to Eren. While he respected the depths she had gone to in order to protect the kid, was even thankful for her tenacity during the incident with the female titan, Levi wasn’t about to let her take away the one piece of happiness he had claimed for himself.

He normally kept a tight rein on himself, he had to. The impassive expression he usually wore had been perfected to hide the beast Erwin had forced him to cage all those years ago. Couldn’t have humanity’s savior terrorizing the very people he was supposed to be protecting.

For just a few seconds, he allowed that veil to lift.

Meeting Mikasa’s black gaze, he let his own fill with a smoldering, feral darkness, let the savagery that formed his core peek through. She stiffened, hands automatically falling to the grips of her blades. Smart girl.

Just as quickly, he put the mask back in place.

“Family, huh? That’s beautiful. So fucking beautiful I could vomit.” Levi straightened and shot his grappling hook into a tree several feet away. “And you don’t need to worry about Eren. I’ve got him working with Hanji on some special training. I’m sure you’ll see him later.”

With that, he jumped off the branch and shot forward. Mikasa watched him go with a scowl.

“So, did the Corporal say where Eren was?” Armin, who’d been in the rear of their formation, zipped down next to her.

Her fists clenched at her side. “No, just that Eren was off training somewhere. That damn shortie. I don’t know what Eren sees in him.”

A titan appeared under the tree Levi was in and without hesitation, he flew down, performing a great spinning slash that felled the giant instantly, spraying blood and flesh into the air.

“Uh, well he is really strong,” Armin observed, and he couldn’t hide the awe in his voice. “He’s also, you know, kind of pretty.”

Mikasa gave him a look of disgusted disbelief. He flushed and glanced away.

“I’m just saying,” he mumbled.

“Whatever, but if he ever hurts Eren like he did before, I’m going to kill him.”

Armin laughed nervously. “It doesn’t sound like a joke when you say it, Mikasa.”

“I’m not joking.”

Their conversation floated down to Levi, who had exceptional hearing, but he didn’t acknowledge it, simply pulled out a rag and calmly wiped titan shit off his blade. There wasn’t anything he could say, even if he deigned to respond. Because of who he was, what he was,  _not_ hurting Eren was an impossibility. He could only make the pain sweet, so sweet Eren wouldn’t be able to live without it, without him.

Because he’d already reached that point himself. For Levi, any future that didn’t now include Eren was no future at all.

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

"I'm borrowing Eren for a while."

All eyes in the room flitted between Erwin's unflappable expression to Eren's surprised one, all except Levi who kept his steely gaze fixed firmly to the Commander's face.

"Is there a reason why you're pulling him off our mission right now, right when we are almost ready to open up a new supply line?"

Levi lounged nonchalantly in his chair, legs crossed, arm thrown over the wooden back, but his calm facade couldn't quite hide the sudden tension thrumming through his body.

Erwin, the bastard, noticed. One annoying eyebrow lifted quizzically, or maybe it was in amusement.

"There is a reason, of course."

He didn't expound further, pissing Levi off. Which was probably his intention.

The boot that had given Levi his first orgasm? It had belonged to the man sitting so serenely before him. Though it hadn't lasted. Two dominant personalities like theirs made a relationship between them impossible. Levi might enjoy a little pain himself, might want to sometimes take instead of give, but being in charge was something he would not, could not compromise on. Erwin wasn't good at giving up control, either. Their affair ended, and that was that. Still, the irritating man enjoyed getting under Levi's skin whenever he had the chance. The sadist in him just couldn't help it.

Levi felt Eren's eyes shift to him. Leaving the Commander's face for a moment, he met the younger man's uncertain gaze. He wished he could erase that uneasiness, but they were soldiers, weapons wielded as seen fit by their superiors. If commanded, they would have to ride into death's waiting arms without even being told why. However ...

"And, do we get an explanation?" His tone held an edge. The kid did that to him, with those big, green eyes lost and yet looking toward him for answers, for comfort. If he had to, he'd face down the devil himself for Eren.

Erwin studied him for a moment. "Leave us."

The majority of the squad responded immediately to his authority, chairs scraping as they hurried out of the room. Hanji looked a bit put out that she had been excluded. Eren actually hesitated, looking not at the Commander but at Levi for direction. Levi shook his head curtly, ignoring Erwin's interest in their silent exchange. Shoulders slumping, Eren followed Hanji out, shutting the door behind him.

"I see you are still training your puppy," Erwin mused, steepling his fingers under his chin.

"Don't start." Now that all the prying eyes were gone, Levi stood up and started to pace. "What are you planning, Erwin?"

"Ah straight to business then. Too bad, I thought I could tease you some more." Levi just tossed him a glare. Sighing, the Commander dropped his hands back to the table, expression instantly hardening. "We've heard rumors that a sect within the MP is planning to kidnap Eren."

Levi stopped so fast his boots skidded across the floor. He kept his expression taciturn but his pulse started to race.

"Who did you hear those rumors from?"

Erwin waved his hand negligently. "That doesn't matter. Suffice it to say that I trust the source. Because of this information, I have decided now is an ideal time to rout some of the thorns in my side.”

His intentions suddenly clicked into place. Levi’s eyes widened in understanding.

“You’re going to use Eren as bait.”

“That’s the plan, yes.”

“No.”

“I think it--”

Storming over to the table, Levi slammed his hand down with enough force that it rattled the cups sitting on the surface.

“I said, no!”

Leaning back in his chair, Erwin observed him curiously. “Interesting. Are you afraid he might get hurt or that the assassins might actually succeed? Need I remind you that you took the job of overseeing Eren for the very reason of killing him should the need arise?”

Levi turned away, rubbing his sting palm on his pants. It wasn’t like him to panic so easily, to lose it in front of his superior.

“I know what my duty is,” he replied quietly once he had regained some semblance of control, “and I would have carried it out if necessary, though I don’t think it will ever come to that.” He spun back around. “But, that doesn’t mean we should just bring him to that viper den in the capital and dangle him in front of those cowardly, murderous snakes.”

“You don’t think he can protect himself?”

“No, I don’t think  _you_ can protect him. Even if he’s in danger, he won’t go all out, not against other humans. He’s not quite the monster everyone thinks him to be.”

“It almost sounds like you admire the boy.”

“I do.” He replied instantly, without reservation. Both of Erwin’s eyebrows shot up.

“I thought you were just playing with him, using him to pass the time or alleviate stress, but you’re serious about him, aren’t you?”

“And if I am?”

Erwin sat there for a moment before answering. “If you are, then maybe I need to reevaluate Eren’s situation. If I can’t trust you to take the necessary steps to keep him under control, to eliminate him if he becomes a threat, then maybe I need to find someone else who will.”

“Oh, I can keep him under control.” There was a wealth of meaning in that one statement. “And if you think you can actually take him away now, just try it. I’m not your dog anymore, Erwin. Come between us and I will bite back. Hard.”

Silence, heavy and dangerous, fell between them. After several long moments, the Commander clucked his tongue.

“My, my, so fierce. I won’t take your puppy away, Levi. But,” his voice hardened, “I will be using him to ferret out the traitors in the MP. And that’s an order, not a negotiation.”

Levi couldn’t countermand a direct order. “Fine. When do we leave?”

"You’re not going. I still need you to get that supply line opened.” Levi opened his mouth, but Erwin gave him a look that stilled the words on his tongue. “Come now. I think you can do without him for a month. If they don’t make their move by then, I’ll go to them.”

 _A month?_  Levi felt his stomach turn at the idea. He’d personally sent Eren on much more dangerous missions, but he’d always been right there with the other man. Having Eren off somewhere facing possible death, out of his sight, away from his reach, it unsettled him.

Turned out, his bad feeling was justified.

Early the next morning, before the sun had risen, Erwin had spirited Eren away. Levi had figured something like that would happen, so he had dragged the younger man from bed and made love to him all night long. It was a wild, desperate joining, Levi trying to imprint his scent, his body, his very essence on his lover, as if maybe that would somehow keep Eren safe.

Three weeks later, three long, aching weeks without Eren, word came that Erwin’s plan had succeeded. But at a cost. Five MP, two survey corps and a civilian had been killed during the operation, and Eren had been wounded, losing a leg and an eye. He was already regenerating, but lay in a coma-like state.

Levi brutally butchered four titans that same day he read the missive, and by the time Eren arrived two weeks after that, whole and completely healed, he’d taken down close to twenty, throwing himself into a killing frenzy, all the pain and fear and rage seething within him seeking release each time he sliced into his enemy.

Yet, no matter how many giants he took down, no matter how much blood he spilled, it still hadn’t been enough to calm his fury.

That’s why he sat there in the shadows as the rest of the squad celebrated Eren’s return, not speaking, not eating, just watching. Watching and waiting. He saw Eren glance his way several times, but Mikasa kept Eren close, occupied. The others were just as bad, circling around him, laughing and arguing, taking all of Eren’s attention for themselves. Levi allowed it, for the moment.

Then the moment passed.

Languidly rolling to his feet, he stalked toward Eren and the kid’s little harem. The expression on his face must have been something to see because the squad members outside of Eren’s circle took one look at him and abruptly glanced away, some paling, some blushing, some privately wishing they could take Eren’s place.

“Hey, Eren.” His voice was low, sultry, mesmerizing.

All the chattering around Eren stopped. Mikasa frowned at him. Armin gulped. Jean flushed and stuck a finger in the collar of his shirt, pulling it away from neck. The others just looked confused. Eren though, Eren gazed back at Levi like a man who’d been blind and had just seen the sun for the first time.

That expression should have quieted the tempest inside Levi.

It didn’t.

“Corporal Levi,” Eren practically breathed his name, and that husky sound intensified the storm.

Levi walked around Eren, stopping beside him, letting their arms graze.

“I think it’s time I debriefed you.”

“Is that code for something else?” Jean whispered to Armin, but Mikasa heard and gave him such a look of intense dislike that he sort of just wilted on the spot.

Eren heard nothing, his entire attention focused on Levi.

“Of course, sir.” The eagerness in his response was so obvious it was almost embarrassing. For his friends at least.

“Then come.”

He left, and Eren filed in behind him.

The room exploded into conversation once the pair had left, but to a one they all avoided making eye contact with anyone else.

In the hall, the Corporal bypassed the room that had come to serve as his temporary office and padded up the stairs. With each step he took, his body burned and throbbed and raged. He wasn’t sure how he made it to his quarters, but he’d barely ushered Eren in and shut the door before he fell on the younger man.

Their lips met and he heard a low, animal sound. Levi didn’t know if it was his or Eren’s, and he really didn’t care. His mouth devoured Eren’s, nipping, drinking, stroking, kissing him with all of the savage passion he’d been forced to deny this last month, with all of the fear he’d locked away.

“Don’t ever,” he bit Eren’s bottom, “allow yourself to get hurt when I’m not around.” His fingers, rough and impatient, found the laces of Eren’s shirt and yanked. “If you go and die when I’m not there I will drag you back from hell if I have to and then kill you myself.”

  
Such a dark, violent exhortation would probably have frightened another man. Eren just thrust his hands into Levi’s hair, winding the dark strands around his fingers as he rubbed his body against the shorter man’s.

“I’m sorry, Corporal. I love you, love you.” Eren peppered his declaration with wild, hot kisses across Levi’s face, his neck.

Levi allowed it until he got Eren’s shirt undone. Once the ties were loose, he pulled away long enough to rip the shirt off. Eren wasn’t wearing his harness, having just been released back into duty, letting the unwanted garment come off easily and fall to the floor. His nipples pebbled as the cold night air washed over them and Levi bent down, taking one hard nub into this mouth. Eren gasped, arching into the older man, pushing his swollen cock into Levi’s belly.

Too much, it was just too much. Straightening, Levi grasped Eren’s head and pulled him down, lips teasing the edge of his ear.

“I’m going to fuck you now, Eren. Are you ready?” Levi could see the pulse fluttering in Eren’s throat as he nodded. “Good. Then strip and get on the bed.”

Eren obeyed, shivering a bit from the chill, and sat on the bed.

“On your knees.” The sibilant hiss of Levi’s cravat sliding out of his collar accompanied the command. Eren’s glittering gaze followed the movement and he licked his bruised, swollen lips. “What a perverted expression you’re wearing. Do you want me to use this on you again?” Levi rolled his own blazing, silver eyes over Eren and held the white cloth up.

Wearing a full body blush, Eren nodded, muscles in his stomach clenching under Levi’s perusal, his erection shooting out from a thatch of dark brown curls, the tip already glistening.

“Then get on your knees.”

Eren got on his knees in the center of the bed.

Levi hummed in approval, setting the untied cravat next to Eren’s kneeling figure while he slowly undressed with calm, steady movements that belied the inferno simmering beneath his surface. The straps of his harness fell to the floor with a thud. Normally he would hang them up carefully after oiling the leather to keep it supple and crack-free. Not today, not with Eren naked and waiting for him. His shirt and pants followed, puddling around his feet.

Completely nude, he kicked away from the pile of clothes and stepped toward the bed. Eren’s eyes ate him up, pouring over every hard angle, every inch of pale skin, falling on his own jutting arousal. Levi felt singed everywhere those green eyes touched.

“Lower your chest to the bed,” he rasped harshly, “and put your hands behind your back.”         

It was awkward, but Eren complied, turning his face to the side so he could breathe. Levi picked up the cloth and bent over. When he was finished, Eren’s hands were bound at the small of his back, tight little ass raised in the air and waiting for attention.

“Did you take a bath earlier? Clean  _everywhere_?”

Eren angled his neck to better see the Corporal. “Y-,” he cleared his throat, “yeah I did.”

“Because you wanted this, expected it?” Levi placed his palm on the other man’s butt.

“Oh yes.” The unabashed candor in Eren’s response made Levi’s heart catch and his groin ache with need.

Climbing up on the narrow bed behind Eren, each hand grasped a firm, muscled cheek and parted them. He heard Eren inhale sharply as he leaned down, and that deep breath turned into a whimper when his tongue snaked out and gave Eren’s puckered opening a long, slow lick. The brat tried to squirm, but Levi clamped his hands down, pinning Eren in place as he suckled and lapped at the tiny hole.

Muscles quivering, Eren groaned and submitted, breath coming harder and faster the longer Levi’s tongue worked him.

Minutes went by, until Levi’s jaw cramped and Eren’s ass was a dripping, trembling mess. Replacing his mouth with his fingers, he pushed the digits into Eren and placed his lips at the base of the younger man’s spine, moving forward to lick a long, hot line up that smooth, tawny back, mapping the bumps and ridges with his tongue.

It was getting harder to think, harder to resist the call of his lover’s body. Lining his front to Eren’s back, he bit down on the spot where neck met shoulder, hard enough to make Eren jump, and then pressed a soft kiss to the abused area.

“Levi,” Eren moaned, leaving off his title, and arched up against him, “just …  _now_ , please.”

“I give the orders here, brat,” Levi murmured, but that didn’t stop him from taking his cock in hand and sliding it between Eren’s cheeks.

He rubbed the head against the small entrance once, twice, three times, making Eren push back insistently. Yeah, that was enough teasing. Digging his fingers into Eren’s hip, he thrust forward, past the ring of muscles that resisted for a moment before giving way to his erotic assault, all the way in. The heat, the tightness, he’d never get enough of it.

“Eren,” he hadn’t meant to say the other’s name, but it boiled up from his heart and out his mouth all on its own.

The man under him responded by gasping and clamping down around his cock. Groaning, Levi withdrew until just the tip remained and then plunged forward with enough force the bed smacked into the wall. Over and over, he dragged his sex out, pushed it back in, hard and rough and wild, pounding out all of the aggression and distress that no amount of fighting had been able to dispel while Eren had been gone, filling that golden body with his own, his everything.

Eren came, moaning and crying as his body jerked, but Levi needed more, much more, before he would be satisfied.

Pulling out, still hard, still throbbing for release, he flipped Eren over, taking a moment to appreciate the beautiful picture he made, flushed and passion-dazed, and then scooping up the thick, creamy proof of Eren’s satisfaction, bringing it around to his own ass. While he fingered and prepared himself, he bent over, took Eren’s cock into his mouth, tasting the salty bitterness. Eren, unable to move his arms, hissed and flinched, most likely too sensitive from his orgasm, but Levi kept at it, sucking and licking, and in no time Eren was hard again.

Releasing him with an obscene pop of his mouth, Levi rose over his younger lover, mounted him, and sank down, breath whistling through his teeth as his inner muscles groaned in protest. Eren wasn’t exactly small. But damn, once the initial burn passed, the feel of that thick heat inside him nearly drove him crazy.

Surprised by the Corporal’s actions, Eren froze at the initial penetration. As soon as Levi started to move, however, he couldn’t stay still. He clumsily rolled his hips upward. With a dark, husky chuckle, Levi showed him what to do, bearing down, lifting up, placing his palms on Eren’s stomach for better leverage.

The room grew warm and sweat coated their skin, making it easier to slide and grind against each other.

Climax hovered. Levi held it off, not wanting this to end, not yet, not until he’d taken a month’s worth of pleasure from their joining, until he’d purged a month’s worth of agony. Damp, slick, sizzling, they moved together, rocking the bed so hard the abused legs creaked against the floor. No longer able to hold back the tide of orgasm, Levi lifted his hips one last time, slammed down, and exploded, taking Eren with him, his muscles squeezing and tightening around the other man’s cock.

Breath a ragged wheeze, he slumped forward, but not for long. Eren’s arms and shoulders had to be hurting by now. Separating their bodies, which drew gasps from both of them, Levi reached under Eren and untied him.

On legs that felt like jelly, Levi stood up, padded over to his wash basin and cleaned up with the small rag he kept there. Glancing back, he saw Eren rotate his shoulders and massage his wrists, but the aftercare was his job. Dampening the rag again, he went back to the bed. With love and something almost akin to worship, Eren watched him through sleepy green eyes as Levi wiped him down and then massaged his aching joints.

“Can I stay here tonight, Corporal?” Eren asked moments later after Levi had finished and was neatly folding the clothes he’d left strewn on the floor.

Picking up his harness, Levi placed it on the hooks by the bed. “That’s a stupid question.”

Eren’s face fell, but lit right back up as Levi sat on the bed and ordered, “Move over brat, and if you’re snoring keeps me awake, you better be prepared for the consequences.”

The ended up on their sides, Eren facing the wall, Levi curved against his back, one arm thrown across his chest.

For the first time in over a month, the Corporal felt content, at peace, and he closed his eyes, face buried in Eren’s back, lulled to sleep by his lover’s scent and warmth.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world was cruel. 
> 
> Eren had told him once, as they lay in bed, legs tangled, skin damp and flushed, that Mikasa had tried to force him to burn that thought into his brain. During the fight with the female titan, with the girl who had been their comrade, their friend. And even though he understood on a fundamental level how shitty their existence was, what a crapshoot the universe had thrust them into, he always held out hope for something better. Better people, a better world, a better life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me to continue with this fic. This is for you.
> 
> Warnings: SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS for the current manga chapters. Also violent sex in this chapter, if that bothers you then you might want to skip.

The world was cruel.

 

Eren had told him once, as they lay in bed, legs tangled, skin damp and flushed, that Mikasa had tried to force him to burn that thought into his brain. During the fight with the female titan, with the girl who had been their comrade, their friend. And even though he understood on a fundamental level how shitty their existence was, what a crapshoot the universe had thrust them into, he always held out hope for something better. Better people, a better world, a better life.

 

Levi hadn’t been that naive since, well probably never, but the kid had those bright, unswerving beliefs, even tempered with the anger that raged deep inside him, that made even a cold, cynical bastard like himself yearn for more. A sky without walls, snow capped mountains that disappeared for miles and miles into the sunset, an ocean the color of Eren’s eyes that stretched out past the horizon and beyond.

 

Having that hope, that yearning, made it all the more bitter when reality decided to intervene, kick them in the balls, and then shit all over their lives in the most sick, twisted, traitorous ways.

 

Eren had considered Annie his friend, but Bertolt and Reiner, they had been kind, sometimes gentle, always thoughtful older brothers that he had looked up to, believed in, trusted. Their betrayal had lanced the wound Annie had left festering, reopening it, leaving him scarred and bleeding, even after his physical hurts had long vanished. Especially when he found out how many lives had been lost retrieving him from their grasp.

 

It had been several days since the incident and they were planning to move Eren and the remaining members of the 104th to a secret location away from everyone else, to keep him and Christa safe. The knowledge of her relationship to the wall cult and the walls’ true construction had been a fortuitous surprise, and one Levi fully intended to capitalize on, but that was for later. Once he dealt with that damn brat.

 

Right now, Eren lay holed up in their current lodgings, coming out only to check on Mikasa’s condition, then going back to his room. Levi understood the kid’s pain, his disillusionment, so he had thought to let the brat work it out on his own, get it out of his system before they moved him at the end of the week. However, when Eren showed no signs of returning to normal, Levi decided to take matters into his own hands.

 

Partly because Eren was no good to him, to the squad, to humanity if he was mourning and brooding and suffering in silence, and partly because it got to him, knowing that the kid who never ran away from a fight, who never stopped looking forward, was stuck in a limbo of guilt and anguish.

 

Sending everyone else, including Hanji, away to run errands, he made sure they had the place to themselves before seeking Eren out. He didn’t bother to knock on the door, just shoved it open, sending it crashing against the wall so hard the frame rattled.

 

Eren didn’t even seem to notice, sitting on the bed, shoulders slumped, hands hanging listlessly between his legs as he stared out at nothing. That blank look on his face pissed Levi off as much as it pained him.

 

“Oi, shitty brat, how long do you plan on sulking in here like a jilted lover?”

 

That normally vibrant gaze lifted to his, looking dull and lifeless and nothing like the beautiful eyes Levi had fallen in love with. The thought made him freeze for it was the first time he had admitted to himself that he actually loved the kid. It wasn't just a need, a desire, slice of happiness, an  _itch_  anymore.

 

“Corporal, what are you doing in here?” Eren’s voice was as barren as his eyes.

 

That he could be so dead while Levi had just experienced an earth shattering revelation enraged him.

 

“I’m here to beat some sense into your skinny little ass,” he growled, banging the door closed behind him.

 

“I don’t under--”

 

“Shut the fuck up!” His voice lashed out like a whip, startling Eren, finally arousing an emotion out of the boy who looked up at him in confusion. “Do you think,” Levi continued silkily as he approached the bed, “that you are the only one who has ever been betrayed, been hurt by someone he cared for? Well guess what, sunshine, that’s life. People fuck over others, get fucked over, and usually everyone else is too mired in their own shit to hold your hand or wipe your ass or dry your tears when it happens.”

 

Some color came into Eren’s face and his hands clenched on his knees. “I wouldn’t do that to anyone. I’m not--”

 

“But you,” Levi ground out, talking over him again, “you have people who care about you. Those kids who hover over you like you're a bright ass light they want to bask in.” He reached Eren and bent down, grabbing the younger man by the shoulders. “And you have me.”

 

Pushing hard, he slammed Eren up against the wall, crawling onto the bed, looking down at the kid’s stunned face. “You got royally screwed. We all did. And it sucks, sucks harder than a three-dollar whore down in the flesh market, but You're. Not. Alone." He punctuated each word by shaking Eren. "Do you get it, dumbass?”

 

Eren’s mouth parted, pain flashing across his face, and it all came rushing out. “Corporal, I, I’m sorry. It’s just they were my friends and they caused all that death, my mother’s death, and I never knew, never suspected. How can I save anyone when I couldn’t see what was right before my own eyes?”

 

Levi slapped him against the wall again. “None of us saw it either. You’re just a stupid kid and yet you expect to see more than the rest of us who have been rolling around in this filth for years? I always thought you were an arrogant little shit but this takes the cake.”

 

The pain morphed to anger on Eren’s face. Lifting his hands, he seized Levi’s wrists and tugged, trying to break free of the other’s grip.

 

“Stop talking down to me all the time, dammit! It’s my fault, the deaths, the carnage, all of it. If only I would have paid more attention. If only I hadn’t let myself get captured. Again. How can you not blame me, how can  _they_  not blame me?” It was clear he was referring to his little herd of friends.

 

The Corporal went deathly still. “Ohh, so by that logic it is actually my fault for not letting the MP do what they wanted back at that trial. If I hadn’t intervened, you would have been executed, dissected, chopped into a million fucking pieces, and the titan shifters would have never had their hand forced, right? Is that what you are telling me, Eren, that I should have left you to die a dog’s death back then?”

 

Eren inhaled sharply, seeming to realize just how far he had pushed the older man. “That’s, no that’s not what I mean at all. I just, I’m just so tired of all this death.” His face crumpled, and for the first time since Levi had met him, he actually looked his age.

 

Shit. In an instant, the anger Levi had been riding disappeared like a puff of smoke.

 

“God, you piss me off so much,” he muttered and twisted his body, carrying Eren down to the bed and crushing their lips together.

 

The kid opened for him without hesitation, hands coming up to claw at his back while that lithe, beautiful body arched up against him, wrapped around him, as if Eren was trying to crawl up inside him. Lust, hot and brutal, rolled over him, over both of them.

 

There was no preparation, no foreplay. Eating at Eren’s lips, he tore his pants open, yanked Eren’s down, and then he was inside. It hurt, both of them, that dry penetration, but they didn’t stop.

 

Biting and scratching, they joined in a violent, desperate coupling that filled the air with harsh grunts and smacking flesh and the metallic sounds of their harness grating against one another.

 

Rearing up, Levi pulled Eren with him, spinning the younger man back to the wall, spreading those legs as wide as they would go, throwing them over his thighs as he pounded into Eren so hard the plaster on the wall started to flake off.

 

“Corporal, harder.” Eren cried out. “Make it hurt, make me feel.”

 

Those words were like pouring oil on a fire. Driving his hands into Eren’s messy, brown hair, Levi yanked his head to the side, setting sharp teeth into the cords of his neck that were straining under that golden skin, biting down so hard Levi broke the skin while he pistoned his hips as hard and fast as he could.

 

Eren screamed, cumming so hard he winced with it, tightening around Levi and pulling him under, too.

 

Tasting blood, Levi feared he had finally done it, finally gone too far, but when he lifted his head, he saw the soft, satisfied glow in Eren’s blue-green eyes, the slight curve to his pretty mouth. There was no sign of his previous pain and remorse.

 

Their gazes clashed and Erens arm's came up to creep around his neck.

 

“Thank you, Corporal. I’m sorry that I…” he trailed off, searching for the right words.

 

Levi, being the great guy he was, filled in the blanks. “That you were a giant shithead?”

 

The kid smiled, the first real smile he’d given since he’d been back, and Levi had to hide his reaction to it, it was that visceral. “Yeah, it just really hurt you know.” The smile faded a little. “I want to believe things will work out, that we will win, but when stuff like this happens, it just really makes it seem so impossible.”

 

“Then there’s only one thing you need to do,” Levi cupped Eren’s chin. “Just believe in me." Erwin would shit himself with laughter if he heard Levi spouting this crap, but he meant every damn word. "That’s all you need to do. Believe in me and keep fighting for that future you are always telling me about.”

 

Eren angled his head down and kissed Levi’s hand. “I do believe in you, Corporal. I always have, always will, and I love you. I don’t think you can possibly understand how much.”

 

“I think I can,” Levi replied softly, without thinking. Eren’s eyes widening made him realized what he had just revealed.

 

Separating their bodies, he quickly left the bed, finding a shirt the kid hand carelessly thrown on the floor and using it to wipe away their combined body fluids. It was beyond disgusting, because who knew how long that shirt had been lying there, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. He would just have to scrub extra hard in the bath.

 

Eren came up behind him, pulling him into an embrace just as he finished righting his clothes.

 

“Can I take what you just said as a confession, Corporal?” He sounded more like himself, normal, confident, and the knot inside Levi eased a little.

 

“Take it however you want, brat,” he grunted, as close to an admission as he was comfortable giving. “Just don’t get cocky or I will have to teach you another lesson.”

 

“Promise?” Eren’s hot breath ghosted over his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.

 

Without looking, he grabbed the boy’s face and shoved, sending Eren stumbling backward.

 

“Get cleaned up. There’s a mountain of chores you’ve fallen behind on while moping in here. I’m not going to let you rest until you complete every single one of them.”

 

“Yes, Corporal Levi,” Eren dutifully replied. “And, thank you, again. I bet Mikasa and Armin and the others were worried about me.”

 

“They weren’t the only ones,” Levi groused curtly, but he left before Eren could reply, not seeing the happy smile that blossomed on the kid’s face as he walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I would love to hear from you whether it's about this fic or any of my others or just to chat. I'm on both [tumblr ](http://bexara.tumblr.com/)and [twitter](https://twitter.com/pinkbookpirate)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey,” he kicked a giant foot, “why haven’t you changed back yet, brat?”
> 
> Eren’s head lifted and one glowing, green eye stared at Levi from underneath a mass of messy dark hair. His hand rose from the ground, finger extended. The Corporal didn’t flinch as that massive finger brushed gently over his face. There was blood on it when Eren pulled it away and even trapped in that grotesque form, Levi could feel Eren's concern and sorrow. It made his heart ache.
> 
> “It’s not mine.” The quiet words came unbidden to Levi’s lips as he reached out to wipe the scarlet smear away. He wondered how they looked to the others, a small human comforting a monster. Steadying himself, he pushed the momentary vulnerability away. “Now get out of that body so we can leave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 〜(￣▽￣〜)(〜￣▽￣)〜 I can't tell you how wonderful it is that so many people have commented on this fic, here and on tumblr. Thank you! It makes me tremendously happy to know all of you are enjoying it. I hope you like this next part, too. Thanks to everyone who is reading my other SnK fics, too. Find me on [tumblr ](bexara.tumblr.com)or [twitter](https://twitter.com/pinkbookpirate)if you want to chat.
> 
>  
> 
> **More spoilers below for those who are only watching the anime.**

Levi came striding into their temporary command center, face dark and eyes flashing pools of molten silver.

Hanji looked up from her research, the angry thud of his footsteps drawing her gaze. She sat up and eyed him speculatively.

“What is it, Levi? You look…” She hesitated.

Dangerous. The unsaid words shimmered on the air between them.

“Someone tried to assassinate Erwin yesterday.” The words were quiet, clipped, and seething with fury.

She hadn’t been expecting that. “Is he okay? What happened? Did they catch the perpetrators?”

Questions tumbled from Hanji’s lips as she rose. The Commander was still recuperating from the loss of his arm and the thought of him being attacked while so vulnerable made her feel sick.

He nodded curtly, going to his desk. “They tried to poison his food but lucky for him the kid charged with bringing him his meals decided to nick a few bites. Unlucky for that kid, though,” Levi grabbed his pack off the back of his chair and stuffed a few items into it. “He died screaming and foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog.”

“No one saw anything?”

“Not anyone who’s talking. We’ve tripled the guard on him and only someone we trust will be preparing his food now.”

Setting his pack aside, he picked up his Survey Corps cloak and swung it onto his shoulders. “From now on, no one here cooks alone either. Kitchen duty will be strictly supervised.”

She crossed her arms as he fastened the cloak and let the ends flutter to his waist.  “You think we’ll be a target, too?”

“I think Eren will.” Levi didn’t look at her and his voice didn’t change, but she saw the way his jaw clenched. It bothered him, the thought of someone coming after Eren. That kid was some kind of miracle, she thought to herself, and not just because he could turn into a Titan.

Levi cared about his duty and every life under his command, but his time in the gutter coupled with his years of bloodying his hands had numbed him, warped him, to the point she had often thought if this damn war ever ended the Corporal might have no place in the world that came after.

Eren had erased her worries, and that’s the real reason he was so miraculous. Bold, brash, he had stormed through Levi’s defenses and forced the older man to look at him, want him, love him, and in doing so he made the Corporal more than a good solider, more than a killer. Eren had given Levi his place and she could just hug the kid for that alone, never mind his scientifically intriguing body.

“Then we’ll just have to make sure he stays safe.” She watched Levi adjust the straps of his harness and check the sharpness of his blades.

“And that’s the one thing we can’t do.” A bleak note entered his voice, but when he glanced up at her his face was expressionless. “We’re going out on a hunt. Knowing what we do now about the Titans, Erwin has ordered us to capture a couple of more for study, to see if we can find things we missed before. Eren and his group are coming with us.”

Hanji’s eyes lit up. She clapped her hands together and squealed. “Marvelous! There are so many more experiments I want to do now. Even recuperating, the Commander knows how to make me happy.”

Levi gave her a disgusted look. “I’m sure that’s what he lives for, making your sorry ass happy. If you can stop creaming your panties long enough, get your things ready. I have to go tell those fucking brats the plan.”

He hauled his pack over his shoulder and turned around, leaving her alone with her euphoria, his own mood much darker.

First the attempt to kidnap Eren, then Pastor Nick’s murder, and now this. Humanity didn’t need the Titans to wipe them out, they were quite capable of doing it themselves with their petty fears and ambitions and ugly hatred.

Walking outside, he stood in the sunlight for a moment, letting the warmth soak into his skin. It was quiet here in the mountains, peaceful. Birds chirped in the distance. The horses whinnied softly in their stalls. The air smelled clean, pure, tinged with the fragrance of flowers just now coming into bloom. A perfect, idyllic scene, especially when he looked over to where Eren and his friends were laughing and horsing around as they did their chores.

And it was all just one giant, fucking illusion.

As if sensing his gaze, Eren looked up, and, like always seemed to happen recently, staring into those wide, radiant saucers the brat called eyes sent deep need jolting hard within him. They had a mission to prepare for, a dangerous mission that none of them were guaranteed to come back from alive, or even in one piece, and all Levi wanted to do was drag Eren to the back of the house, slam him against the stone wall, and rut into him like today was their last day on earth. Which it very might well be.

The smile on Eren’s face faded and he murmured something to the others before jogging over to Levi.

“Corporal,” he was slightly breathless as he pulled up in front of the older man, “is there something wrong?”

“The day I need a brat like you worrying about me is the day I cut off my balls and put on a dress.”

Eren’s eyes abruptly glazed, causing Levi’s hooded gaze to narrow. “You just imagined me in a dress, didn’t you, you little shit?”

A tell-tale flush crawled up Eren’s face and his teeth scraped his bottom lip. “Um, I—”

“Save it, you can’t lie worth a damn,” Levi stopped him, voice soft and menacing. He took a step forward. Up close he could feel the heat radiating from Eren’s body, so hot even when he wasn’t in danger of shifting, and it warmed Levi in places the sun could never reach. It didn’t change the fact the kid needed to be put his in place right then, however. “We’re heading out in an hour. I want you to go and saddle all of our horses.”

“All of them?” There was a plaintive whine to the question.

“All of them,” Levi affirmed with a hard smile, but when he stepped around Eren he let his fingers trail along the younger man’s wrist. “Pack it in!” he called out to the rest of the squad, effectively dismissing the brat. “We’ve got a mission.”

An hour later they were on the road, the clack of hooves and the rattle of their carts the only sounds, each of them focused on their task at hand. Their goal was the area north of Castle Utgard where some stragglers of their battle there had been sighted. Levi emptied his mind of everything else but the mission at hand, though the part where Eren’s light shined remained a steady, constant glow.

 

* * *

 

“Ackerman, don’t kill it, dammit!” Levi shouted as Mikasa swung up behind the Titan that had just bit off Eren’s arm.

His own heart had leaped to his throat when Eren’s Titan form went down under the larger giant, but he’d had his hands full subduing the second monster they had cornered after several hours of searching. A quick glance revealed Eren lurching to his feet, backhanding the other Titan with his remaining hand, and Levi’s stomach unknotted.

Mikasa spun around midair, aiming for the Titan’s arm instead, severing one of the tendons so the limb dropped uselessly to its side.

All around them was the noise of battle. Shouting, screaming, blades cutting, wire thrumming as the squad flew through the air. The campaign was bloody and violent.

Jean had gotten hurt almost immediately and Armin was bandaging his head while Connie stood guard over them.

Levi couldn’t see the rest of the squad or the other scouts who had joined them on the mission, though he knew Hanji was safe because she was bellowing out orders for someone to get the carts ready for the first Titan.

Knowing that was his cue, he shot his hook into the Titan’s calf and zoomed forward, blades spinning so fast they vibrated the air as he hacked and slashed at the back of the creature’s ankle. Blood and gore and chunks of flesh formed a stinking red and white shower around him, but he didn't stop.

He kept at it, cutting and slicing until he heard an ominous crack. The monster’s ankle was unable to bear its weight with all of its muscle and flesh carved away and its bone shattered, toppling its humongous body forward.

Releasing his grappling hook, Levi twisted, somersaulting through the air and landing agilely onto the ground. The Titan fell to one knee and a hundred more hooks were shot into it, hooks with thick, reinforced rope. Jumping back into the fray, he attacked the Titan’s other leg, and when the giant fell, the ropes around it slowly contracted, forcing it to its stomach where more restraints were added, sealing its movements.

Rubbing his arm over his forehead to remove the blood and sweat threatening to drip down into his eyes, he turned back to the other Titan. Even missing one arm, Eren had managed to wrestle it to the ground, teeth buried in the giant's shoulder, blood from the bite arching up toward the sky. Maybe someone else would have been disturbed to see their lover like that, to see him become a monster, but not Levi. It was proof that Eren was strong, that he wouldn’t be killed so easily, and the knowledge soothed the Corporal’s soul instead of troubling it.

Spikes with more rope were stabbed into the second Titan and after several long, laborious minutes, it was bound head to foot just like the first. Using a portable wench, they managed to haul and secure the giants into the carts, grunting and cursing the entire time.

Once that was done, Levi took stock of his team and the other scouts. Miraculously, no one had died, though there were several injured and some were severe.

Wiping off his blades, he sheathed them and walked over to where Eren sat slouched over, still in his Titan form.

“Hey,” he kicked a giant foot, “why haven’t you changed back yet, brat?”

Eren’s head lifted and one glowing, green eye stared at Levi from underneath a mass of messy dark hair. His hand rose from the ground, finger extended. The Corporal didn’t flinch as that massive finger brushed gently over his face. There was blood on it when Eren pulled it away and even trapped in that grotesque form, Levi could feel Eren's concern and sorrow. It made his heart ache.

“It’s not mine.” The quiet words came unbidden to Levi’s lips as he reached out to wipe the scarlet smear away. He wondered how they looked to the others, a small human comforting a monster. Steadying himself, he pushed the momentary vulnerability away. “Now get out of that body so we can leave.”

The light in that large eye faded and the back of the giant’s neck started to steam. Moments later Eren’s human body shot out of the creature’s neck, arms spread wide as he arched back like a fallen angel. Levi leaped forward, boots sliding across dirt and rock, barely catching the boy before he could hit the ground.

“Shit!” he swore violently, cradling the younger man to his chest. “Can’t do anything halfway, can you?”

One of Eren’s hands reached up and weakly grazed Levi’s cheek, echoing the movement his Titan body had just performed. A small smile curved his lips.

“Cor…poral,” he whispered. Then his lashes fluttered shut and his arm fell limply back to his side.

In a brief act of weakness, Levi pressed his lips to Eren’s forehead, ignoring the filth and grime, but when he pulled away his mask of stern indifference was firmly in place.

Mikasa hopped down next to him and he thrust Eren at her.

“Here, get him on a horse and join the others. We’re heading back.”

Dark eyes undecipherable, Mikasa carefully took Eren from him without saying anything.

Spinning away, he set off in search of Hanji, leaving a little part of himself behind.

 

* * *

 

By the time they got back to base, Eren had regained consciousness. He seemed none the worse for wear, but Levi sent him to the bathhouse they’d erected behind the house to clean up anyway. The rest of the squad he split up, some cooling down and attending the horses, others going to the kitchen to prepare dinner. A full complement of soldiers were sent with Hanji to secure and guard the two Titans they had captured.

Once his duty was done, he stopped by his room to remove his gear and grab fresh clothes and then he headed to the bath himself. His muscles were aching and exhaustion tugged at his already heavy-lidded eyes, but there was a fire in his belly he had to assuage first. He was alive, and so was Eren, and he needed to affirm that fact with their bodies.

Eren had already washed by the time he arrived and was now lazing in the tub, head resting on the edge while his hand trailed back and forth in the water. He looked up as Levi entered.

“Corporal,” he straightened guiltily, “I’m sorry if I took too long. I was just finishing up.”

He started to get out, sloshing water over the tub’s side. His skin was flushed, wet, little droplets rolling down his chest. One drop caught on a pale brown nipple and held there, trembling for an instant before falling. Levi’s stomach clenched in expectation.

“Stay,” he ordered, his voice low and husky.

Eren’s eyes shot to his and whatever he saw there had him sinking back into the tub, mouth parting.

With quick, efficient movements, Levi stripped, noting the way Eren’s gaze darkened with each inch of skin he revealed. He didn’t understand what the brat saw in his hard, scarred body but there was no denying Eren’s bright eyes were fucking him right where he stood.

Grabbing the water bucket and soap, he stepped over to the stool and sat, wetting and ruthlessly scrubbing his body until it was red and clean.

“I heard someone tried to kill Commander Erwin.”

Levi’s hand that had been washing his arm stilled. “Where did you hear that?”

He could practically feel Eren’s shrug. “People talk. Will he be okay?”

“He’ll live.”

Water splashed behind him. “You went to see him last night.” It was a statement not a question. “I went to your room but you weren’t there.”

There was a slight accusation in his voice. Levi rinsed off and stood up, facing the boy.

“I did. He’s my superior.”

Eren avoided the older man’s gaze and brought his knees to his chest. “But he was your lover once.”

Levi’s eyebrows lifted. “And how do you know that?”

“I’m young, not stupid. I could tell. There’s a,” his forehead wrinkled as he searched for the right word, “an intimacy between you and him that you don’t have with anyone else.” The set to his jaw said he didn’t much like the idea.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Levi stalked over to the tub and grabbed Eren’s chin, forcing his head up. “I have that with you, and it’s a hundred times stronger than anything I ever had with that shitty eyebrows. You should be honored, brat, because I consider most everyone else a waste of space.”

“I am,” Eren titled his head so Levi’s hand was close to his mouth, “honored.” His tongue came out, licking across Levi’s thumb in a burning, sweeping caress.

“You’re a little shit,” the Corporal countered, feeling that sizzling, wet touch all the way down to his cock.

He bent down and took those sassy lips in a deep, scorching kiss. Eren groaned into his mouth and twined strong arms around his neck, pulling him closer, so close the kid seemed to wrap himself right around Levi’s heart.

It brought out his possessiveness, his primal nature, and he deepened the kiss, feeding on Eren’s lips as he stepped into the tub. The water was still hot, but not as hot as Eren’s mouth. Grasping the boy’s wrists, Levi pressed them back against the tub and settled between his legs, only breaking the long, drugging kiss when Eren was twisting and moving restlessly against him.

“How do you feel?” he asked when he pulled away.

Eyes dazed, Eren licked his lips. “How … I feel fine.” He was panting and Levi could feel him hard and straining under the water.

“Fine enough for this?” Levi’s hands dipped down, scraped over Eren’s nipples, slid along his ribs to his stomach, caressed his thighs before cupping his erection.

“Mm,” Eren arched into him, “I can, I can take it. I want it.” His gaze cleared and his glittering eyes captured Levi’s. “I want you.”

That was all the permission Levi needed.

Setting his mouth on Eren’s neck, he bit and sucked, raking the hollow of the boy’s throat as his fingers curled around hard flesh. Eren clutched Levi’s shoulders, widening his legs to give the older man better access, and released a single sound, a hoarse moan that ignited the fuse smoldering inside Levi.

He pumped and stroked below, sipped and lapped above. Eren tasted of water and soap and lust, and Levi drank his flavor down, savoring it. Dragging his mouth lower, he kissed the taut muscles of Eren’s chest, firm but not the roped sinews of his own body, not yet. With time and training the kid might develop them, and Levi could only wish and pray that time was something Eren would have, that they both would have.

Shaking off his maudlin thoughts, because now was not the time for them, not with Eren moaning and thrusting into his hand, he slid his tongue over Eren’s heartbeat. He stayed there a moment, the frantic beat that proved Eren was alive pounding against his mouth, but his goal was the brown, peaked nipple that had been beckoning him for the last few minutes.

Arriving at it, he licked the small point roughly, swirling around the tip and flicking it hard with his tongue. Eren groaned, hands moving from Levi’s shoulders to cup the back of his head and tangle in the damp, dark strands of his hair. As an invitation, it was a damn good one.

Putting his teeth into play, Levi tugged sharply on the nipple, biting down on the tender flesh, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to make Eren throw his head back with a small cry. The sound washed over Levi, settling in the aching weight between his legs, and he couldn’t stop from rubbing his arousal against the inside of Eren’s thigh, his body a living, breathing fire that was close to losing control.

Scoring the nipple a few more times, he opened his mouth wide over it and sucked, drawing it deep in the same rhythm his hand was moving on Eren’s cock. Little waves formed in the water, caused by his movements and Eren’s writhing. 

Mouth busy, he sent his hand lower, leaving Eren’s sex to massage the hard sac beneath it, lightly scraping the tight flesh with his nail, making Eren gasp loudly again. His questing fingers moved under, parting Eren’s cheeks so he could probe the small entrance there, tease and rim it, pushing one digit hard and deep after Eren panted his name and begged. The younger man cried out at the penetration, jerking so hard more water dumped over the tub’s sides.

Levi smiled against Eren’s chest, a dark, sensual smile that made his face a thing of savage beauty, nothing like the bored facade he usually presented to the world. His finger moved deeper, a deliberate enticement, satisfaction clawing at him as Eren’s muscles clenched around him. But it still wasn’t enough. He needed Eren to want him more, crave him more, to be consumed by the same erotic flames that were devouring him.

He thrust in a second finger, and then a third, twisting and massaging until Eren was rocking blindly against him. Easing his head back, he looked down at his younger lover, at the passion clouding his brilliant gaze, at the lips that were red and swollen from their earlier kiss, at the slick golden skin, and Levi reached the breaking point.

Standing, he jerked Eren up, ignoring the boy’s confusion, and spun him around.

“Put your hands on the edge of the tub and bend over.” The command was harsh, tight. “We’re not cumming in the water because I don’t want to clean that shit out.”

Eren complied, leaning against the wall of the tub, curling his fingers around the edge. His body was beautiful, sleek and dripping water, the muscles in his back standing out, the cheeks of his ass round and firm. Levi’s hands explored the bounty in front of him, starting at the top and working his way down, memorizing every bump and hollow and hard angle.

Shoving his knee between Eren’s legs, he forced them further apart, opening the kid up for him. Eren glanced at Levi over his shoulder, his round, hypnotic eyes burning with lust and love, and he wiggled his bottom.

“If that was supposed to be seductive you have a long way to go,” Levi lifted one eyebrow in amusement.

“Then what if I said, ‘please fuck me, Corporal.’ Is that seductive enough?”

Watching Eren’s mouth form the crude word was more than Levi could take.

He pushed against the boy aggressively. “You just don’t know when to quit. One of these days that smart mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble.”

“As long as it’s this kind of trouble,” Eren rubbed his ass against Levi’s cock, “then I don’t mind.”

Cursing, Levi blanketed Eren’s body with his own and he surged forward, burying himself deep in Eren’s flesh, his raspy moan mingling with the younger man’s cry of pain and pleasure.

His hips moved involuntarily, nearly unable to bear the tightness, the heat, the addicting feel of Eren that made him want to stay this way forever.

Planting his hands on Eren’s waist, he withdrew until just the tip was left, a husky chuckle rumbling from his chest as Eren whined and shifted, trying to pull him back inside. Well, to be honest, Levi wasn’t in the mood for teasing either.

He shoved, hips slamming against Eren’s ass with a loud, wet smack, and set up a hard, fast rhythm that jerked small sounds from both of their lips.

The fiery friction was amazing, creating a heat in his cock that spiraled out through his entire body, electrifying every nerve, until he was riding a crest of smoldering pleasure that erased everything else from existence. There was only him, only Eren, only their bodies moving and sliding against each other.

Levi lost himself in that pure, frantic feeling, plunging harder and deeper, wanting to crawl right up inside Eren until not just their bodies but their very beings were so entwined one couldn’t exist without the other. Just when he thought he couldn’t possibly feel more for the kid, couldn’t possibly want and need and love him more, moments like this happened. It was hot and wild and fucking scary as hell, but he wouldn't give it up for anything.

Eren undulated, sucking him deeper, and he moaned, low and guttural, the sound dragged from his very soul. Reaching around, he found Eren’s dick, working his hand back and forth in concert to the movements of his hips. His muscles quivered with the need to cum, with the pressure building so fast and large he thought he would burst with it, just explode and fly apart. But not without Eren.

Adjusting his angle, he rammed tightly against that sculpted ass, grinding and pistoning over the bundle of nerves inside Eren that had the boy’s head falling back onto his shoulders, had him keening and wailing.

“Levi!” He shouted the Coporal’s name and his cock started to jerk and spasm in the older man’s hand, ropey jets of cum shooting out and splashing against the floor.

The tight flesh around him contracted, squeezing him as Eren continued to thrash and spend himself over the edge of the tub. That sensation blew the vortex of heat churning in Levi’s center wide open. He couldn’t reach Eren’s mouth so his teeth found the apple of the boy’s shoulder, sinking deep, muffling the shout of his own orgasm as he hammered home one last time, all the way to the hilt, spilling himself again and again inside Eren’s body.

Their ragged breathing accompanied the sound of water churning.

“I think I’m going to pass out,” Eren warbled, slumping against the tub.

Levi unlocked his mouth from Eren’s skin and growled, “Not with my dick in you, you aren’t.”

He’d left a mark, a perfect indentation of his teeth, and the primitive male inside him smiled with satisfaction though he knew Eren’s regenerative powers would soon erase the wound. That was okay, he could always put it back.

Separating their bodies, he felt the thick fluid of his cum slide out with him and he swore loudly.

“Fuck! Get your ass out of this tub before you dirty the water.”

Eren moaned. “I don’t think I can walk. My legs feel like jelly.”

Rolling his eyes, Levi hopped out of the water and heaved Eren over his shoulder, slapping the boy’s backside when he squawked at the rough treatment. Marching over to the buckets they used to wash with, he dropped Eren to his feet and poured one over the younger man and then one over himself, throwing the rest over the floor where Eren had climaxed.

Soaping up a sponge, he scrubbed down Eren’s body, paying special attention to his cock and ass, smacking his butt again when he hissed and tried to get away.

“Be still!”

“But I’m too sensitive,” Eren winced at a particularly vigorous rub.

“Would you rather walk around with cum leaking out of your ass?”

Blushing, Eren looked away, but he didn’t protest again.

After Eren was so clean you could eat off of him, not that Levi would because that sounded gross as fuck, the Corporal attended to his own body.

Feeling exhausted but also refreshed, he towled off, watching Eren do the same.

Once they were dressed, Eren stood there uncertainly, fidgeting from one foot to the other.

“Do you need to take a shit or something, Eren?”

Used to Levi’s crudeness by now, Eren just shook his head. “No, um, I was just thinking I guess I’ll be sleeping in my own bunk again tonight since we already, you know…” He trailed off, the color in his face deepening.

“Since we just fucked like bunnies?” Levi asked with dry amusement. “You’re something else, brat, begging me to fuck you when we’re right in the middle of it and then acting like shy virgin when we’re done.”

Eren didn’t say anything else and Levi sighed. “Shit, Eren, if you are waiting for an engraved invitation to my bed then get over it.” The younger man’s shoulders hunched in defeat, making Levi want to thump him on the head. So he did. “There’s no invitation because it’s already open to you, dumbass. I thought you had figured that out by now.”

Those fucking dazzling eyes lit right up at Levi’s declaration and Eren launched himself at the Corporal, wrapping his arms around the older man.

“Thank you, thank you, Corporal.”

Face pressed against Eren’s shoulder, Levi let the kid hold him for a few seconds before speaking again.

“That’s enough,” he pushed away, untangling their bodies. “I want to eat, shit, and then go to bed. Grab our dirty clothes.”

“Of course.  _Sir_ ,” the deliberate way Eren said that last word as he picked up their belongings had Levi’s silver eyes narrowing.

“Keep it up, brat, and you’ll be sleeping in the stalls with the horses.”

He turned on his heel and headed for the exit, hiding a smile as Eren trailed after him, whining and apologizing the whole way.

 TBC

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren’s breath was hot as it fanned against his mouth, and his husky voice was an erotic blanket rubbing all over Levi’s skin. It was almost enough to make him forget his original plan, almost enough to make him drag Eren down to the bed and pour out every minute drop of emotion he felt.
> 
> However, Levi managed to rein in the impulse. He needed more than that tonight. Needed Eren to accept, to welcome the darkness he had bottled up inside him. Needed to exorcise his demons on the altar of Eren’s beautiful, golden body.
> 
> “Because I want it like this tonight.”
> 
> _Because I need it._
> 
> He didn’t say the last part out loud, but somehow Eren heard it anyway. The hands on Levi’s hips fell away. This wasn’t the first time he’d tested Eren like this, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Eren was strong enough to push Levi away, strong enough to resist, but he never did. And each time Eren met him head on, accepted Levi the way he was, another part of the filth covering his soul washed away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More spoilers from the manga. Big ones, so don't read if you are only watching the anime and care about that sort of thing. Sorry for the long delay between updates, health and writer's block kicking my butt lately. Anyway, hope you enjoy. I'm still so thankful to everyone reading this story and responding so positively to it.

Levi stood surrounded by a mound of corpses, both human and titan (though that was semantics at this point, wasn’t it?). It was just one of scores of similar scenes he’d seen, had help generate, in his time in the Corps. A harsh wind blew over him, drying the sweat and gore on his face as it spread the reek of blood and shit, the scent of death, through the trees. He observed  the remains around him, the bodies of the soldiers who had fought under him, the giants who at one time might have been someone’s mother or father or sibling, and he felt … nothing.

No, that wasn’t accurate. Levi simply felt so much that he was numb with it. That was the only way he could live without going absolutely fucking insane.

He looked down at the filth dripping from his blades and, in a rare display of emotion, he threw them as hard as he could. They spun threw the air, glinting and tumbling before burying themselves in a nearby tree. His expression was dark, fierce, enraged, but by the time the first clop of hooves reached his ears his face was back to normal. Calm, taciturn, devoid of anything other than detachment.

His harness creaked as he moved, walking to the tree to extract his blades. He cleaned them, and was in the process of putting them away when Hanji trotted up next to him. She looked at the tree and the two, perfect indentions and then back at Levi, but said nothing.

“Where are the others?” He turned his back on the dead. The only thing he could do for them now was to keep searching for the truth and maybe someday end this madness.

The wind kicked up again and Hanji absently tucked her bangs behind her ear. “Looking for survivors but …”

She trailed off, gazing up at the sky as if she could find the answers she needed there, so Levi finished for her.

“But it was just like before,” his voice was flat. “No survivors, no bodies, just titans where the townspeople should have been.”

She nodded. “And it’s spreading. This is the third village this month.”

“When is Erwin going to fucking put the plan in motion?” Levi strode away from the carnage behind him. “The sooner we get to the bottom of this shit the sooner we can do something about it.”

“We have the meeting in the morning. Maybe he’ll decide then.”

Levi snorted. “Or maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow with tits and a vagina.”

They both knew the Commander thought at least ten moves ahead of the rest of them and wouldn’t spring his trap until he was satisfied his prey would definitely  be caught.

Hanji nodded again, then looked at him slyly. “Hmm, I bet Eren wouldn’t mind if you suddenly sprouted female body parts.” Levity was how she dealt with the carnage around them.

His eyes narrowed to slits of glittering silver. “Fuck off, Hanji.” He found his horse where he’d left it tethered to a tree. “Besides, that brat likes getting it more than giving it.”

She waited until he was saddled up before throwing him a smirk. “But he wouldn’t mind you in a dress giving it to him, right?”

The Corporal went so still Hanji couldn’t even tell if he was breathing, and his words dripped with ice when he spoke. “I take it you overheard our conversation last month.”

“Mm,” she had to fight to keep from laughing. “I had forgotten to ask you something so I hurried after you, but you were already talking with him and I didn’t think I should interrupt.”

“Well, then. I believe you’re going to forget ever hearing it or the only thing they will ever find of you are those shitty glasses of yours.” The threat was as sharp as his blade.

Straightening her expression, Hanji agreed, though her eyes were twinkling with mirth behind her“shitty glasses.”

“Then let’s get the others and the cart so we can round up our dead and go. This place fucking stinks.”

Digging his heels in, he spurred the horse forward. Hanji fell in place beside him and they headed toward the living, leaving the gruesome remnants of the dead, silent and unseeing behind them.

* * *

 

They expected to find the group packed up and waiting for them. What they found was a battle raging. The titan was of the aberrant kind. Levi could see it in a glance because it ignored the humans at first, smashing up the Corp’s cart like it was made of toothpicks and then grabbing some of the horses, chunking the frightened and soon dead creatures hard against the ground. Green cloaks fluttered as the scouts danced through the air on their wires, trying to get the perfect shot at the giant’s neck.

Levi vaulted from his horse before it stopped, coolly assessing the situation. His feet were already moving when he drew his blades, the metallic sound of steel clearing the sheaths lost amid the shouts and confusion of battle. Adrenaline travelling through his veins like a drug, he glanced around for something to shoot his hook into, and the second titan came out of nowhere. Thankfully some sixth sense had him jackknifing into the air in a backflip mere seconds before a monstrous foot slammed down where he had been standing.

It came after him again, undeterred. Was it an aberrant too? He didn’t have time to care. His eyes cut to the left and he put on a burst of speed. The creature followed him, just like he planned. Banking so hard he skidded across the ground, he changed direction before the titan’s lumbering body could keep up.

A young girl with short, red hair and terrified eyes ran into view, trying to activate her gear. The titan saw her and. rather than shambling off after Levi. it turned toward her. She looked up and a soundless scream fell from her lips. Her fear was palpable, even from where he stood. For a moment, the image of another woman with ginger hair superimposed itself over girl, and then he was moving, pressing the release on his grappling hook and sending it straight between the giant’s shoulder blades.

Levi soared, zipping up the wire to aim for the thing’s vulnerable spot. With all of the strength he could muster, he crossed his arms and rammed his blades into the giant’s neck, jerking upward. The titan moved, throwing his slice off and he missed the kill shot. Cursing, he had to release his wire and jump back to the ground. At least during his attempt to take the monster down, the girl had safely rejoined the others.

He must be getting fucking soft if he had time to get trapped in the past, he thought angrily to himself as he jumped back into the fray.

There was smoke and dust swirling all around as he ran. More strategies played across mind, but through the grit a pair of bright eyes he would know anywhere suddenly clashed with his.

“Corporal!” Eren shouted, leaving Mikasa’s side to run toward him. The stupid little shit.

Then he saw Eren’s eyes widen and instinctively rolled to the side. The titan’s hand had been so close the wind it generated reaching for him cut into his skin like a knife. He quickly picked himself up off the ground, losing sight of Eren in the process. It didn’t matter. Levi  _heard_  him.

A scream ripped through the air, serrated, bloodcurdling; the scream of a demon. The ground under Levi’s feet rumbled. Courtesy of the giant pounding toward him. Eren, clad in his titan’s body, appeared out of the haze. Levi looked up in time to see him reach out and seize the other titan’s head. With another hair-raising bellow, he pushed his palms together. His oversized muscles quivered from exertion and, though the monster snapped and beat and scratched at him, Eren finally won the fight. He crushed the giant’s head, causing it to burst and splatter with a meaty pop, sending blood, flesh and bone pouring down over Levi like a fucking rainstorm.

The headless body folded in on itself and crashed to the ground behind Levi. Eren stomped on its neck for good measure. Blinking gore out of his eyes, Levi watched Eren turn toward the first titan, but Mikasa and Jean were in the process of dispatching it before he could take a single step forward.

With a tranquility he certainly wasn’t feeling, Levi calmly put away his blades, trying not to think about the foul-smelling shit congealing in his hair and dripping down his face.

Pivoting on his heel, he let Hanji and Mikasa handle extricating Eren from his temporary body, instead barking out orders to everyone else. It was getting dark and they needed to wrap things up fast if they wanted to make it home before dusk. His eyes fell on the cart. Rage and pain flashed through their stormy depths, but no one was close enough to see it. The dead he’d left behind in the forest would never find their way home now.

Just like earlier, he turned his back and walked away. Maybe, when he finally ended up in a titan’s mouth, he could take time to regret his failures. But not now. Now was for the living.

* * *

 

He used ten buckets of water and two bars of soap later that night before he finally felt clean again. At least on the outside. Being a death dealer meant he’d never really be clean, not where it counted.

Unless he was with Eren.

That attractive, fearless, determined little shit with his belief in victory, in his dreams of a future, a future with Levi he’d whispered one night into the older man’s shoulder as Levi had stroked in and out of him, that fucking beautiful brat made the hardened, cynical Corporal feel that even someone like him could have salvation.  

Levi wanted to feel a little of that salvation now. Had wanted it since he’d walked away from his dead comrades not once but twice that afternoon. Finishing up, he dried quickly, sliding into his pants, leaving the top button undone. The shirt he slipped over his shoulders he left completely unfastened.

Each step back toward the house brought visions of what he wanted to do to Eren, what he  _planned_  on doing.  His cock was on board with his sensual thoughts, and he was glad he’d left his pants undone when they started to tighten painfully.

Levi had told Eren to wait in his room after lights out. He hadn’t told the little shit to curl up in his bed, in one of his white nightshirts. Hadn’t told Eren to fall asleep like he didn’t have a fucking care in the world, looking fresh and innocent and so damn young. He wanted to feel guilty for the things he was going to do, the things he’d done, but he couldn’t. Eren was too much a part of him now. Guilt, like regret, was for another time, another place.

He must have made some sort of sound because Eren’s lashes lifted sleepily, allowing Levi to see the boy’s mesmerizing eyes that sometimes seemed like the ocean he one day swore to find  and other times, like now, seemed to be the exact color of his favorite stained-glass panel at the church. A radiant, otherworldly fusion of greens and blues.

He wasn’t a religious man by any means, and now that he knew what he did about the wall church his contempt for those fucking hypocritical bastards only deepened.  He just … liked the quiet there sometimes, and it was somehow appropriate that his redemption came wrapped up in a stunning packaged topped by those striking, church-glass eyes.

“Corporal,” Eren rasped his name, rubbing the eyes Levi had just admired with the corner of his fists like a fucking child. It shouldn’t have been sexy, but dammit it was. Levi’s arousal deepened to an almost brutal level, and his temperature jacked up even further when Eren smiled drowsily at him.

“Eren.”  Levi’s voice was low, smoky, like the soft hiss of a flame and just as hot. All vestiges of sleep melted off Eren’s face and he sat up, understanding what his superior’s tone meant. He licked his lips and the sight heated Levi all the way to his cock, which wanted the same treatment. “That’s my shirt. Take it off.”

Eren looked down at the long nightshirt and back at Levi. “I’m sorry, I—”

“I want you naked.” Levi’s hooded, silver gaze darkened until it was nearly black with desire. “Take. It. Off.”

Electricity, sensual and a little dangerous, began to fill the room. The longer they stared at each other, the more intense, almost violent, it became, until the very air vibrated with it. Eren got to his knees and reached down, crisscrossing his hands at the hem of the shirt and tugging it over his head.

He was completely nude underneath. Light from the nearby oil lamp played across his smooth, bronzed body. Levi wanted to touch him, trail his nails over that hard chest, caresses those supple, toned legs. Spread them and wedge himself between them as he ran his fingers through Eren’s sleep-tousled hair.

Keeping his eyes firmly planted on Eren, he stripped down, dropping his clothes over his chair. Eren’s cock had started to rise, thickening and lengthening under Levi’s burning stare. That was good, because his own erection was so full and hard just walking the short distance to the bed, with a quick stop to grab a couple things out of his dresser, was painful.

When his feet came into contact with the sheet Eren had managed to kick off, Levi dropped the items in his hand onto the bed. He lowered his head, slowly. Eren stretched, angling his neck and moving forward until only a small, whisper-thin gap separated their lips, and closed his eyes.

Levi knew the kid was expecting him to make the move, but he held there until Eren’s eyes opened in confusion.

“What are you waiting for, brat?” Levi murmured, and his bottom lip grazed Eren’s with each word. “Kiss me if you want it.”

Color seeped into Eren’s face, but he shifted and just like that their mouths were touching. That first contact was soft. It was somewhat amusing and damnably embarrassing to Levi that such a small, innocent action could send his pulse racing. This kid had really fucked him up, but in the best way possible.

When Eren didn’t deepen the kiss, Levi whispered into his mouth. “Do it right, Eren.”

He felt Eren inhale and then the pressure on his lips increased. Levi moved with him, but didn’t take control. He wasn’t going to make it that easy for Eren. The boy apparently figured that out because he made a low sound of frustration, following it with little nips and licks across Levi’s mouth, probing the seam with teasing laps until Levi finally opened for him. The moan when their tongues collided came from Eren, but Levi only barely held back one himself. Each time they kissed like this he fell further and further into the abyss, but it was a sweet, drugging descent.

Soon the kiss turned wild, voracious, Eren sucking and stroking, just the way Levi had taught him. Breath ragged, Eren dropped his hands onto Levi’s waist.

“No,” Levi pulled back, biting Eren’s lip as he eased away. “You aren’t allowed to touch me.”

“W-why?” Eren’s breath was hot as it fanned against his mouth, and his husky voice was an erotic blanket rubbing all over Levi’s skin. It was almost enough to make him forget his original plan, almost enough to make him drag Eren down to the bed and pour out every minute drop of emotion he felt.

However, Levi managed to rein in the impulse. He needed more than that tonight. Needed Eren to accept, to  _welcome_  the darkness he had bottled up inside him. Needed to exorcise his demons on the altar of Eren’s beautiful, golden body.

“Because I want it like this tonight.”

_Because I need it_.  

He didn’t say the last part out loud, but somehow Eren heard it anyway. The hands on Levi’s hips fell away. This wasn’t the first time he’d tested Eren like this, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Eren was strong enough to push Levi away, strong enough to resist, but he never did. And each time Eren met him head on, accepted Levi the way he was, another part of the filth covering his soul washed away.

Levi rewarded Eren’s obedience by cupping the younger’s man’s jaw and giving him another kiss, a deep, hot, kiss of possession. Eren quivered under his embrace and an echoing quake rocked Levi’s core. When it was over, a thing stream of saliva dribbled from the corner of Eren’s mouth. Levi wiped it away and pressed his wet thumb against Eren’s lips, exerting pressure until they opened.

Holding Eren’s gaze, he rubbed his thumb over the boy’s teeth and then slid between them.

“Suck it.”

Eyes still on Levi’s, Eren closed his lips, drawing the digit deep into his mouth. His tongue darted forward, flicking along the tip, licking over Levi’s nail like it was something else, something bigger and thicker. And even though it wasn’t his cock, Levi felt every long, slow sweep of Eren’s tongue reverberate across each nerve in his body.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Levi’s voice was a guttural rasp. His hand wasn’t exactly steady as he removed it. Eren’s mouth was berry red and swollen, from their kisses, from the sucking. He had to taste it again, so he did, hard and sharp as he picked Eren up and tumbled him down to the bed.

Once he had the kid arranged the way he wanted, he rocked back on his heels between Eren’s legs.

“I said you can’t touch me tonight, but I want you to touch yourself. Can you do that, Eren? Can you touch yourself while I watch?”

Eren hesitated, cheeks red, but his hands eventually drifted down to his groin. They stopped there, not taking that last step. Instead of saying anything, Levi reached out, took hold of Eren’s wavering hand and guided it to his erection. Swallowing hard, Eren closed his eyes and tentatively began stroking himself.

Levi released him, and pushed Eren’s legs apart, wide enough that he could see every touch, every caress. A soft sound escaped Eren’s lips and his thighs quivered like he wanted to close them, but he didn’t, leaving them right where Levi had put them. Satisfaction thrummed through Levi. There was only one thing though …

“That’s not how you really touch yourself, is it, Eren?” Levi waited for Eren’s eyes to open before continuing. “Show me how really do it, how you do it when you think of me. When you imagine it’s my hands on you.”

Embarrassment shone on Eren’s face, but underneath was the same dark desire Levi felt seething through his veins. Letting his lashes flutter shut one more, Eren bit his lip and moved one of his hands to his left nipple. Twisting it between his fingers, he plucked and tweaked the rigid peak while his right hand curled around his erection. Long, light passes became hard, quick strokes. His thumb joined the action, circling the head and pushing down into the slit at the top.

“Corporal,” he gasped, hips pumping wantonly.  He was so fucking sexy that Levi had to dig his nails into the palms of his hands to keep from falling on Eren like a lust-crazed monster. 

Eren’s breath took on that panting, hiccupping quality he got when he was just about to cum. Not planning on letting things end so early, Levi groped behind him for the two items he’d taken from his dresser.

“Stop,” he ordered harshly, “and put your hands on the bed.”

Moaning in disappointment at being denied his release, Eren stopped fondling himself and let his hands fall to the sheet under him. Just as quickly, he was gasping, gaze dragging down his body to where Levi had tied a piece of cloth around the base of his dick.

“Wh-what are you doing, Corporal?”

“Making sure you don’t cum until I give you permission.”

“But—”

“Does it hurt?”

“Not really, but—”

“ _Eren_ ,” Levi cut him off again. They stared at each other. Eren searched his face, and what he saw there must have reassured him because he let out a shuddering breath and dropped his head back to the bed.

Placing a kiss against the inside of Eren’s thigh, Levi mouthed a silent thank you into his skin. Eren jerked, but didn’t comment on Levi’s unusual action, so Levi kissed his thigh again, sucking lightly on the sleek flesh. The bound cock next to his face bobbed in response. Levi turned his attention there, giving it a couple of quick licks. Eren whimpered.

Nearly consumed by desire, Levi grabbed the other item next to him; a bottle of lotion. Slicking up his hand, he dipped it down, massaging Eren’s sex a few times, going lower, circling the small entrance that he’d soon be filling with something else. He worked one finger in, loving the little noises Eren made as he rubbed and teased the tight hole, releasing some harsh sounds of his own as he pushed two more fingers inside.

“Corporal Levi,  _please_ ,” Eren keened, rocking into Levi, riding his hand.

Even though it was torture to him, too, Levi didn’t heed Eren’s pleas. Hooking his fingers, he probed for that tiny bump hidden deep in Eren’s body, massaging and pressing it, watching through passion-heavy eyes as Eren writhed and cried out each time he bumped it.

Over and over, he kept it up, until Eren was a sobbing, trembling mess and Levi’s cock throbbed so painfully he feared the agony just might be permanent. Sliding his hand out, he put more lotion on it and coated his erection.

Eren was so slick, so ready for him, that there was no resistance. He plunged right inside. They both moaned at the sensation. Not just his hips, but his whole body undulated, muscles flexing and clenching. Hot. Eren was so damn hot and tight, clamping down on him and drawing him in.

When he was away from Eren, when he was fighting or doing reports or listening to Hanji’s madness, he would think that surely it was his imagination. Surely being inside Eren wasn’t that amazing, couldn’t possibly feel that fucking good. But then they would join, like this, and yes, oh hell yes, it was that good, that incredible.

Hands reached for him. He halted his thrusts, though it damn near killed him.

“Do I need to tie your arms down, too?”

He could see Eren consider it, that it excited him, and the muscles around Levi’s cock squeezed hard.  _Shit!_  The kid was going to be the death of him, but what a fucking fantastic way to go. Better than the death he’d always assumed waited for him.

“No,” Eren finally answered, voice hoarse and strained, “I don’t want to wait. I’ll be good, so please fuck me now, Corporal.”

Showing he meant it, Eren stuck his hands beneath the pillow under his head. Lust intoxicated Levi. He moved, fucking in and out of Eren with deep, driving strokes. His fists came down on either side of the younger man’s head and he leaned all his weight on his forearms, leaving his hips free to roll and rut.

For a while, that was enough. It was enough shoving his cock into Eren, enough that Eren moaned and writhed with each thrust, his own hips working to meet Levi’s sensual assault. But then it wasn’t.

Rearing up, Levi grabbed each of Eren’s thighs hard, hard enough to leave perfect impressions of his fingers. Eren didn’t protest the rough treatment, just groaned out Levi’s name again. Chest expanding in harsh, shuddering bursts, Levi used his deep grip to lift Eren high enough for him to watch their joining, to watch his hard, wet cock disappearing into Eren’s ass. Fuck, it turned him on even more than he already was.

Primal, possessive instincts urged him on, put his mouth to Eren’s shoulder where he bit down. Those same urges made him pull out, flip Eren over, plunge back in. He drilled Eren’s ass hard and deep, so hard the sharp smack of flesh on flesh echoed through the room.

He cursed, Eren cried out, and still they moved together. When he felt himself start to drop into that freefall that signaled orgasm, he turned Eren back over so he could see that gorgeous face as he took his pleasure, pounding and pounding, pistoning and lunging like a man gone mad, which maybe he had.

Climax hurled into him, scorching him from the inside out. Grabbing hold of his pulsing dick, he withdrew. Instead of cumming inside Eren, he aimed at that wet, twitching hole, splashing his seed across Eren’s ass and inner thighs. The erotic sight prolonged his orgasm, letting it go on and on until every last drop had been milked out of him.

Eren, still locked away from his own pleasure, shook with the need to cum, shook so hard the bed trembled with his spasms, and a litany of “ _Please, please, please_ ,” spilled from his mouth.

Levi leaned down, kissing Eren’s belly, sucking lightly on his navel. “Alright, Eren. You can cum now.”

A quick flick of his fingers, and the cloth restraining Eren’s cock unravelled. The kid went screaming into his climax, cumming so hard Levi thought for a moment he was going to shoot right to the ceiling. After it was over, Eren lay there dazed and spent, covered in their combined essence. Arousal tried to spark in Levi’s gut but he tamped it down. There was that meeting with Erwin tomorrow and he didn’t want to go into it looking more sleep deprived than usual. He’d never hear the end of it from that shitty eyebrows bastard.

As was their routine, he gently cleaned Eren and then tidied himself up. Minutes later, they were under the sheet, Eren tucked close to his body. The sex was phenomenal, but this part, this part was good in its own right. Temporarily purged of all the pain and grief and darkness, with Eren’s scent in his lungs and warmth in his arms, Levi was happy, content, at peace.

Placing his nose in the back of Eren’s neck, he inhaled softly and closed his eyes. Eren sighed, too, melting back against his body. 

“Eren,” he said right as he felt the boy begin to drift off.

“Hmm?”

“I forgot to tell you, but you’re on laundry duty tomorrow. By yourself.”

Eren tried to turn around but Levi held him fast. “Why?” There was a plaintive note in his voice.

“Because I pulled a piece of that titan you killed out of my fucking ear when I bathed earlier.”

“But—”

His protests fell on deaf ears. Having done his last bit of duty for the night, Levi allowed sleep to claim him, a smile Eren couldn’t see curling the corners of his mouth. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are lovely and appreciated, as well as any suggestions for future parts or works.


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